


A comforting hand

by silvermoongirl10



Series: Like father, like daughter (with godfather Sonny) [3]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: An Attempt At Humour, F/M, Family, Family Feels, Godfather Sonny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-07-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:21:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25246063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10
Summary: Two times Clay comforts his daughter Josie. From a storm and a problem all book lovers face, and one time Clay comforts Sonny. When Sonny realises his goddaughter is all grown up.
Relationships: Background Clay Spenser/Original Female Character(s), Sonny Quinn & Clay Spenser
Series: Like father, like daughter (with godfather Sonny) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1782046
Comments: 6
Kudos: 15





	A comforting hand

**Author's Note:**

> I tried to go for a bit of humour in parts 2 and +1, but I'm not sure about them ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ I hope you enjoy this anyway! (I think I changed the British terms I spotted, but let me know if some slipped in.)

**1**

Clay and Sonny were watching an action film on TV, four-year-old Josie was in bed asleep and Evelyn was away in Washington D.C due to a work conference. The film was just getting to the good part when a loud crash of thunder announced the arrival of a storm. It was quickly followed by a flash of lightening, that was so bright Clay had to clench his eyes shut.

As the rain outside began to pour and another rumble of thunder rolled in the night, the power in the house gave out. Wordlessly, Clay and Sonny got up to find the flashlights that Clay had put around the house in case of this type of event. He flinched at another bright flash of lightening. Then the next rumble of thunder led to Josie letting out a terrified scream.

Turning on his flashlight, Clay made his way down the hall to Josie's room. He pushed open the door and heard Josie quietly sobbing to herself. He directed the light towards Josie's bed, her little face sprung up to look at him. Josie outstretched her arms and cried out "daddy!"

Clay swooped across the room and hastily scooped Josie into his arms. Hating the fear shining in his daughter's eyes. He carried her out into the living room, murmuring soothing words into her ear as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.

Sonny had set up the flashlights so they were turned on and resting on the flat ends, so that they stood upright casting round circles of light on the ceiling. He caught sight of Josie's trembling form as she clutched her arms tightly around Clay's neck.

"Ah Josie-Jo. You don't need to worry. Your daddy and I won't let anything happen to you," he said soothingly.

"Promise?" asked Josie in a quiet voice.

Clay nuzzled his nose into her dirty blonde hair. "We promise," he murmured softly. He looked at Sonny and mouthed the words 'blanket fort'. Sonny nodded and grinned widely, like a kid. Clay stood and watched as his best friend created a blanket fort with the blankets lying around and then went off to the bedrooms in search of comfy pillows. Clay gently rocked Josie as she flinched with every sound and flash of the thunder and lightning.

Soon the blanket fort was completed and Clay shuffled under the blanket, still holding Josie. Once he and Sonny had arranged everything to their satisfaction, with some flashlights stood up in the middle. Clay turned Josie in his arms, so she was no longer pressed against his neck, but was able to look at Sonny.

Seeing Josie was still afraid at the storm still going on outside, Clay decided on telling a story, one from his own childhood. His mom used to tell it to him, not that he remembered. He only remembered his grandmother telling it to him.

" _There was once a woman who was very, very cheerful, though she had little to make her so; for she was old, and poor, and lonely. She lived in a little bit of a cottage and earned a scant living by running errands for her neighbours, getting a bite here, a sup there, as reward for her services. So she made shift to get on, and always looked as spry and cheery as if she had not a want in the world."_ As Clay spoke in a soft voice, he talked with his hands, Josie watched memorised as his hands created soft shadows that danced on the blankets.

_"Now one summer evening, as she was trotting, full of smiles as ever, along the high road to her hovel, what should she see but a big black pot lying in the ditch!_

_"Goodness me!" she cried, "that would be just the very thing for me if I only had something to put in it! But I haven't! Now who could have left it in the ditch?"_

_And she looked about her expecting the owner would not be far off; but she could see nobody._

_"Maybe there is a hole in it," she went on, "and that's why it has been cast away. But it would do fine to put a flower in for my window; so I'll just take it home with me."_

_And with that she lifted the lid and looked inside. "Mercy me!" she cried, fair amazed. "If it isn't full of gold pieces. Here's luck!"_

_And so it was, brimful of great gold coins. Well, at first she simply stood stock-still, wondering if she was standing on her head or her heels. Then she began saying:_

_"Lawks! But I do feel rich. I feel awful rich!""_ As Clay told the story, he felt Josie slump against him as she drifted off to sleep. He looked down to his lap and smiled seeing Josie leaning against his chest, fast asleep.

"And?" prompted Sonny, from across the fort. He was leaning back on his hands and looking at Clay expectantly.

"And what?" asked Clay in confusion, keeping his voice low so as not to wake Josie.

"What happens next?" asked Sonny impatiently.

"You can't be serious," chuckled Clay.

Sonny nodded, "weren't you ever told it's rude to not finish a story you had started?"

Clay shook his head, with a fond smile on his face. "No, I hadn't heard that."

"Well, now you have." Sonny then stretched out on his back, with his hands resting behind his head. When Clay still did not continue the story, Sonny lifted one arm up and gestured to Clay to continue on with the story.

"Okay, I get the hint." Laughed Clay with a shake of his head. He moved slowly so he was lying on his side, Josie snuggled up in front of him. "After..."

* * *

**2**

It was a quiet weekend in the Spenser household.

Evelyn had gone a trip with her sister to New York, something about going to see a musical they had been dying to see for months. Josie had recently gotten wind of a trilogy of books and was already half-way through the third book. Clay suspected some late-night reading had been involved, but seeing as it was summer break, he left the thirteen-year-old to it. He could sympathise, many times a good book had kept him up until the early hours of the morning. With Josie, all but barricading herself in her room, Clay was left to potter around the house on his own. With the family's planned movie night, where they invited the original Bravo team Clay had started his Bravo career with, coming up. He needed to find a film, and decided to buy the films of the trilogy Josie was reading, knowing the Bravo guys would never be able to say no to Josie.

Scratch that, it _had_ been a quiet weekend.

When the doorbell rang, Clay opened the front door to find Sonny stood on the porch. Sonny pushed past Clay, thrusting the beer he had brought with him, into Clay's arms. "Where's my favourite goddaughter?"

"Unavailable," commented Clay, as he kicked the front door closed and went to deposit the beer in the kitchen.

Sonny stomped into the kitchen with an unimpressed scowl on his face. "What do you mean 'unavailable'? It's summer break!"

Clay smirked, "she got her hands on a new trilogy of books. Last time she bothered to answer me she was half way through book three."

Sighing, Sonny threw himself onto one of the island stools and glared at Clay. "You just _had_ to pass on a love of reading to her, didn't you?"

Clay shook his head and laughed as he leaned on the kitchen island, opposite from where Sonny was sitting. "What would you rather her be distracted by. Books or teenage boys?"

Sonny's eyes widened in horror. "Books. Definitely books."

The two men then made their way into the living room and mindlessly watched TV, as they caught each other up on what they had been doing since they last saw each other. Suddenly, the peaceful atmosphere was broken by a quiet thump coming from Josie's room and a shout of frustration. Instincts kicking in, Clay hurried to Josie's room, Sonny half a step behind him.

Clay's eyes swept across the bedroom, Josie's new wall-length bookcase upright and organised, nothing seemed out of place. His eyes then landed on his daughter, she was slumped against the headboard of her bed; her dirty blonde hair up in a messy bun, arms crossed and glaring down at the book on the floor. Clay frowned, Josie was always careful with her books, she hated to lend them to her friends in fear of what condition she would get them back. Evelyn had once borrowed a book and had accidentally rubbed away some of the writing on the cover, and had had to endure a rant on looking after books properly from Josie.

"What's the matter honey?" He asked softly, as he walked towards the bed and sat on the edge. "You finish your book?"

"No," scowled Josie, her furious gaze not wavering from the book. Clay grew more concerned.

Sonny crept closer and also frowned seeing the book on the floor, seeing it had fallen, or had been dropped, so that it was lying on the carpet opened. He twisted his head to see the title. "The death cure? What kind of book did you give her?" exclaimed Sonny, glaring at Clay.

Clay shook his head at Sonny, signalling now wasn't the time. He reached down and picked up the book carefully. Clay closed it and waved it slightly in front of Josie, "this isn't like you. You hate this sort of thing being done to your books."

Josie looked up at him and glared at the book in his hands. "Well. My other books don't _kill off my favourite character_!"

Nodding in understanding, Clay placed the book on the bedside table and hugged Josie tightly. Last night at dinner, the one time he had been able to prise Josie away from her new books, he had listened to Josie talk about her favourite character. "I hate it when they do that."

Josie buried her head in the crook of his neck. "It sucks so bad. At the beginning of this book I thought something bad would happen to Newt. But I didn't think _he would die_!" complained Josie, her voice rising in pitch.

"Wait a second," said Sonny, his face creased in confusion. "You're upset, over a not-real person. Who may I add, is called Newt. Dying in a book that is based on fiction."

Clay bit his lips to try and prevent himself from laughing. Poor, unfortunate Sonny. Josie lifted her head up so she could set her glare on Sonny. "I know it's based on fiction uncle Sonny. But I got _attached_ okay? And yes, his name is Newt. But if you were aware of his backstory, you would understand how _upsetting this is_!"

Sonny, the brave SEAL that he was, actually took a step back at the force of Josie's wrath. He held his hands up in surrender, "my bad?" he apologised.

Josie shook her head at her godfather and then buried her head back in the crook of her dad's neck. "Ugh. This sucks. I've never gotten so attached to a character before that died. All my other favourites have survived."

Clay rubbed his hands up and down Josie's back. "Well, there's something I always do to make myself better after something like this."

Josie leaned back to look at him questioningly, "what?"

"Ice cream," smirked Clay.

Josie smiled and nodded her head. Sonny, in a rush to make amends, rushed towards the kitchen. As Clay slung an arm around Josie's shoulders and guided her towards the kitchen, he heard the clatter of bowls and spoons being placed on the counter. As they entered the kitchen, Sonny was in the process of scooping a big amount of Josie's favourite ice cream into a bowl and warily handing it over to the teenager.

Josie bypassed the bowl and hugged Sonny. "Thanks uncle Sonny. Sorry for snapping at you."

"Ah that's okay Josie-Jo. I should know better by now than to question your love of books," smiled Sonny. He then placed the bowl of ice cream into Josie's hands and pushed her towards the living room. After grabbing their own bowls of ice cream, Sonny and Clay sat either side of Josie on the couch and found a rerun of Friends on TV to watch. Clay hugged Josie to his side and reminded himself to wait to tell Josie about ordering the trilogy films.

* * *

**+1**

"How could you let this happen?" exclaimed Sonny, he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. He was stood in the middle of the Spencer living room, glaring at Clay and Evelyn as they sat on the couch staring up at him in amusement.

Clay chuckled, "you do realise that Josie is twenty now. It's her choice."

Sonny turned his full glare on Clay, continuing to rant as if he had not heard Clay speak. "It's bad enough that you let her go to college two hours away, but now you're letting her spend a year abroad!"

Shaking his head, Clay got to his feet and then stood in front of Sonny, placing his hands on the other man's shoulders. "Calm down Sonny. She's going to Britain, that's not dangerous."

Sonny shook off Clay's hands, "not dangerous? What if she decides she likes it there so much that she wants to stay? Thought about that? That's dangerous for me! My goddaughter living across the ocean. No way is that happening!"

Clay rolled his eyes and turned his head to look at his wife, wondering how he and Evelyn were more accepting of Josie's year abroad, than Sonny. Evelyn shook her head in amusement. "Sonny, do you realise that Clay had already been in the Navy for two years by the time he was Josie's age? Her going for a year abroad is not a bad thing. I actually prefer it to her suddenly deciding to join the military."

Nodding in agreement, Clay turned back to Sonny. "We can't keep her cooped up at home forever Sonny." Clay smiled wistfully to himself, thinking back to watching Josie grow up in the house. It was hard to think that time had gone so fast, that one minute he was carrying his days old baby daughter into the house. Then twenty years later he was getting ready to help her move into a university room on the other side of the Atlantic.

Sonny sighed, his shoulders slumped and he looked at Clay, a hint of sadness in his eyes. "It's just…she's grown up so fast. First, she's talking my ear off about finding a good college to major in English literature and now she's spending a year abroad. At least in the states she's only a two-hour drive away."

Clay smiled and slung an arm around Sonny's shoulders. "We're both retired now, so as long as Josie is fine with it, you and I can book a flight over to see her."

Evelyn snorted, "so I get left behind again? Just like the time when Josie broke her leg?" Clay chuckled to himself, thinking about how Sonny had ended up driving him, Trent and Josie to the hospital and Evelyn having to be taken there by Naima.

Clay watched as the tension in Sonny's shoulders relaxed. Sonny then sighed in acceptance and pinched the bridge of his nose. "So, where in Britain is she heading off to?"

Clay leaned behind him to the coffee table and picked up the brochure Josie had left when she visited home on the weekend. "She's going to Cardiff University in South Wales."

Sonny flickered through the brochure, and gave a sharp nod. "It seems okay." He then looked up and glared at Clay. "Still don't like this though."

Smirking, Clay nodded. "Noted."

**Five months later – October.**

Clay was Skyping Josie, as she showed him her accommodation room she had finally decorated with posters. "It's great dad, the student union had this poster fair in their biggest room and it had all sorts of posters. There were lots of others I wanted but wouldn't have been able to fit in my room."

"Did you say the fair was on again tomorrow?" asked Clay.

"Yeah, I did. Why?" questioned Josie, with the same confused frown on her face that she clearly inherited from him.

"Go and get the other posters you wanted and just send them here. Your mom and I can keep them safe for you," said Clay as he plugged in the laptop charger, not wanting to miss a second of talking to his daughter.

"How's mom doing?" asked Josie, as she turned away to turn on her room light, as night-time was closing in for her.

"Oh, she's _loving_ looking after your sick aunt, uncle and little cousins," chuckled Clay.

Josie barked out a laugh, "how'd you get out of that one?"

Clay shrugged, with a playful smirk on his face. "Just said it would be a pain if I caught the bug as well."

Sniggering Josie replied. "Yeah, if there's one thing mom hates is looking after sick you."

"Just thought I'd spare her the trouble," shrugged Clay. His head turned slightly as he heard the front door open and close, announcing Sonny's return from a beer run. "So, you having fun learning some Welsh?" While Josie didn't know as many languages as Clay did, she did enjoy picking up phrases in different languages.

Josie nodded, "it's really interesting! A bit confusing at times though. But I'm enjoying it!" She then laughed, "the word for microwave is interesting. There's an unofficial word for it, that some Welsh people hate because its ridiculous, but other Welsh people don't mind it because it's funny."

"Well go on then!" prompted Clay, his interest piqued.

"Okay, so one of the _official_ phrases is popty microdon." Started Josie, her excitement showing as she began to talk with her hands. "But the one I was telling you about is popty ping."

Clay laughed, "any other phrases?"

Josie paused thinking and then nodded to herself. "So good morning and good night are; bore da and nos da."

As Clay went to reply, he was interrupted by Sonny storming into the living room. "It's happened! I knew you shouldn't have let Josie go abroad! She's not talking any sense!"

Josie rolled her eyes at her godfather. "Nice to see you too uncle Sonny." She checked the time and then looked back at Clay. "I'll leave this one to you dad. I've got to get some sleep as I've got a nine am lecture tomorrow. Love you."

"Love you sweetheart," said Clay and waved as Josie ended the call.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed Sonny, as he was reaching for the laptop.

Clay pulled Sonny down to the couch. "Sonny. _Breathe_." He shook his head, not quite believing that Sonny was freaking out about Josie speaking some Welsh phrases. "She was just telling me some Welsh phrases she had learnt."

Sonny buried his head in his hands. "I know, but she's obviously loving it over there. What if she decides to stay?"

Clay rubbed a hand up and down Sonny's back comfortingly. "Look on the bright side. She's still got to come back to the states to finish her final year. So, you'll have a year to prove to her that she doesn't want to permanently stay over there."

Sonny lifted his head and grinned widely at Clay. "Good plan Goldilocks!"

Shaking his head at his best friend, Clay leaned back into the couch and sent a text to his daughter.

_[To Josie]_

_Just to warn you. Uncle Sonny is going to spend all of this year and next year trying to dissuade you from staying in Britain._

_[From Josie]_

_Challenge accepted :P_

Clay chuckled to himself, already thinking about the ways Josie will torment Sonny with the thought of staying in Britain. The next two years were going to be lots of fun. He foresaw himself telling Evelyn to cook Sonny's favourite meal for comfort, due to the emotional stress their daughter was going to cause. But Clay wouldn't have it any other way, and he suspected neither would Sonny.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm half Welsh so I am always mentioning/talking about Wales whenever I can. As I visit my Welsh family a lot I always love going to Cardiff, when everything goes back to normal, I highly recommended visiting Cardiff! Oh, and the microwave thing is real, just be careful who you say popty ping to :P
> 
> The bits of the story Clay tells Josie in part 1, is a real story, is one I found on the internet last year. It's 'The Bogey-Beast' by Flora Annie Steel, if any of you are interested.
> 
> I have also recently got into reading the Maze Runner books, so that was the books Josie was reading in part 2. I get into some fandoms so late XD


End file.
